The world is burning. It just does not stop.
Around 10 p.m. Los Angeles time last night, an 8.9 earthquake rocked Northern Japan. A 23-foot tsunami has overturned cars. Buildings are on fire. There will be deaths.
This is truly as bad as it gets for humanity.
For those worrying about Libya, Wisconsin, or the potential NFL lockout, life does not take a breather just because we mere mortals can’t keep up. Yet those are potentially avoidable conflicts.
Acts of God (or nature, for the atheists) cannot be stopped, prevented, or even slowed down.
Once again, we are all reminded of how little we matter. One minute we are going to work, and the next minute our office furniture is attacking us at warp speed.
So many awful aftershocks will continue to shake the Japanese people emotionally as well as physically.
The entire world will be focused on Japan, and rightfully so.
We Americans will send money, food, and love. The Chinese and the Russians will help, as will the good people of New Zealand and Australia.
While this is no time for partisan politics, I have a request of God that may seem odd coming from a conservative Republican.
Help President Obama.
He needs it. He is drowning in crises. He is overwhelmed.
Help him somehow with regards to his cabinet. We are allowed to focus solely on Japan. He can’t. He needs to juggle everything.
While the media is focused on Japan, Gaddafi will have a golden opportunity to commit even more brutal violence in Libya. Just because the genocide is not being televised does not mean it has ended.
Mr. Obama was at his best after the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Giffords. He needs to summon up that eloquence to let the Japanese people know that America is committed to helping them. He has a reputation for being cold and clinical. Please help him show his warmth.
Yet help him keep his other eye fairly fixated on Libya.
He ran as Superman. Now he has to be Superman.
The entire world is watching.
Unlike what the protesters were fighting for in Wisconsin, the Japan situation really is an issue of life and death.
Our Asian friends are all in peril. Indonesia and the Philippines are under tsunami watch.
So is Hawaii.
Yes, Hawaii could be in danger.
President Obama is Hawaiian. He has family and friends there.
So do I.
There will come a time very soon when things will get back to “normal.” Criticizing Mr. Obama sharply on many issues will be appropriate and fair. Liberals will fight in Wisconsin and conservatives will fight to continue the hearings into the radicalization of young Muslims.
Not today.
Mr. Obama is going to hug Sasha and Malia, and Michelle Obama will try to explain to her children what defies any comprehensible explanation. Idealistic voters often get crushed when they realize that the leader of the free world is sometimes powerless to stop a bad situation. For Sasha and Malia, they will realize that Mr. Obama is not just powerless as a political leader, but as their father. Daddy cannot snap his fingers and make everything all right. No father can.
At least they have a father. Some children in Japan who had one yesterday no longer do.
As the people of the world flock to their churches, synagogues, and mosques, the question we will ask is “why?”
Priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams will offer words of healing, but the true answer is “we don’t know.”
Sometimes the advice that is given is cliché and platitudinous, but that does not make it wrong. Some advice has been true since the beginning of time and will always be true and right in good times and bad.
Hug your loved ones.
Help your neighbor.
If you see a firefighter or EMT, shake their hand.
Ask how you can help. Don’t worry about the size or scope of the contribution. Just do what you can.
Go on the Internet. Read the Japanese blogs. Observe the Facebook and Twitter postings. Find out what the Japanese people desperately need.
Pray. Then pray some more.
May God bless the people of Japan in their darkest hour.
Oh, and God…please…make it stop…just for a little bit…slow the pace.
We’ve had enough.
Eric Golub is a Brooklyn-born stockbrokerage and oil professional living in the People’s Republic of Los Angeles. His blog is the TYGRRRR EXPRESS and his three books are “Ideological Bigotry,” “Ideological Violence,” and “Ideological Idiocy.” His interests include politics, football, the stock market, and Republican Jewish brunettes.